


Cow In The Road And You Swerve To The Left

by peeksandhiscaptain (jamie1988)



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Professor AU, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:01:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25232038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jamie1988/pseuds/peeksandhiscaptain
Summary: THEY MIGHT JUST WIN MORE THAN A BETPatrick blames everything on Sharpy. As is right and proper.After more than ten years of dealing with the other (lesser) Patrick and his incessant need to push all of his buttons, Patrick Kane was convinced he should be smarter than to fall for his bullshit. After reading an article praising Pat’s gift with statistics in general and hockey statistics in particular, Sharpy had jokingly remarked that this didn’t actually mean Pat was smart.It shouldn’t bother him. Right?*******************Jonny doesn’t know whether to send Sharpy a thank you basket or a punch in the face.There’s nothing to warn Jonathan Toews that this semester will be any different than any other semester he’s taught. Nothing at least until he sees the roster. And even then, he doesn’t expect the way his world turns on its head.It shouldn’t throw him. Right?A simple bet. A not so simple rush of feelings. School is in...and so is love.
Relationships: Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25





	1. CHAPTER ONE

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! It's me. Again. I have no idea why I'm starting another WIP before I've even finished the last one, but this is fleshed out from a blurb I wrote for the 2018 Blackhawks Summer Fest.
> 
> Go [here](https://jamiewritesfics.tumblr.com/post/623373956989190144/cow-in-the-road-and-you-swerve-to-the-left) for a better summary (I ran out of characters on AO3).
> 
> Fic title is from "How Your Love Makes Me Feel" by Diamond Rio (1997)

It starts, as most things do in Pat’s life, with Sharpy being an asshole.

The boys are sitting around Sharpy’s back yard, ragging on Pat for once again being interviewed about his love of hockey numbers even though the team didn’t make the playoffs, when Sharpy speaks. “Now don’t let this go to your head, Kaner. It doesn’t mean you’re actually smart or anything.”

Pat responds by flipping Sharpy the bird, moving his hand in an semicircle to include everyone when they all start laughing in agreement. “Fuck all y’all, I’m a genius.” 

Brinksy, the traitor, pipes up from a few chairs away. “I thought genius meant smart?”

This only sends everyone into more laughter, and Pat throws an empty cup at Brinksy’s head. He doesn’t miss.

“I bet I’m smarter than anyone else here.” 

Pat wants to bite off his own tongue when Hayds’ head pops out of the pool. “Did someone say ‘bet’? I’m in. Whatever it is.”

Pat wants to drown himself in the pool when Seabs gets an evil grin. 

The next thing Pat knows, he’s agreed to a bet and he has no idea what it entails.

Maybe he’s not so smart after all.

*******************

So it turns out all he has to do is pass a college course. Awesome. It can’t have anything to do with statistics and/or sports. Less awesome.

So here he is, flipping through a course catalog, trying to find something that would be easy enough to pass without cutting into his training. Or make him look like the idiot he’s beginning to suspect he is. 

After quickly glancing through the pass/fail class options at DePaul University, he’s narrowed down his choices. Anything science related is out (he’s too squeamish); so is literature (he loves reading, but not actually, like, thinking about what he’s reading), and the only fun part of math is statistics. 

He pauses once he gets to the list of history classes. High school history was fairly boring. Okay, that’s when he took a nap so he was rested for practice. Don’t judge. But most of the stuff he was awake for was kinda interesting. He skims the list, frowning at the options. There isn’t much to choose from considering it’s the summer term, but one catches his eye: **Canada In Power: 1900 – Today**. 

Well. At least Canada has hockey.

Going back up to the registration desk, he points out the class he wants. The registrar (a petite woman named Ginger old enough to be his great-great grandmother) grins. “Oh sweetie, you’re gonna have fun with this one. He’s a treasure.” 

Pat glances to where Ginger’s pointing in the catalog.

Instructor: J Toews

Shooting off a quick text to Duncs, who’s in charge of approving whatever class Pat picks, he ignores the little zing down his spine that the name on the sheet of paper invokes.

He gets a laughing emoji and an approval back from Duncs. He doesn’t know why he’s relieved.

*******************

Sharpy, Seabs, and Duncs give him plenty of shit at dinner that night, but Pat ignores it, more than used to the friendly competition about which country is better. He’ll never admit it to them out loud, but frankly he thinks they might be right. He simply rolls his eyes and eats his steak, mind wandering to who this professor might be. In his experience, most history teachers were old and boring, not exactly what Pat would call “a treasure”. 

So why did he have this huge feeling of anticipation in the pit of his stomach?


	2. CHAPTER TWO

Two weeks later, Pat’s guzzling coffee at eight in the morning, wandering around campus, trying to find the right building, let alone the right room. In the end, after asking two people who might be more lost than he is, and signing a bunch of autographs, someone is finally able to point him in the direction of a building he’s already walked past twice.

Luckily, finding the right room is easier, and ten minutes before class is scheduled to start, Pat walks in, politely ignoring the wide eyed looks of recognition, quirking a smile at anyone brave enough to make eye contact. He makes his way to a desk in the back, and pulls out his laptop. The guys had bought him a Blackhawks pen and dinosaur notebook as ‘back to school’ presents, but he figured now wasn’t the time to go flashing those about.

Pat’s looking down at his phone, schooling Shawsy on Yahtzee With Buddies, when the infamous Professor Toews walks in. Pat looks up at the sound of the door closing and promptly swallows his tongue. 

Well. He’s definitely not old.

Professor Toews looks to be about Pat’s age, and even through the tweed jacket, Pat can tell he’s never missed a day at the gym. His face is scruffy but neat, with brown eyes he can see even from the back of the room. His mouth is serious, but it doesn’t stop the immediate desire Pat has to kiss him.

What the fuck?

Professor Toews places his bag on the desk at the front of the room, and moves to settle his weight against it, legs and arms crossed. “Good morning, everyone. Welcome to ‘Canada In Power: 1900 – Today’.” Pat can see him looking around, and their eyes meet for a split second, before the professor moves on. “Let’s start with what you all really want to know about this class. No, I don’t care if you use your phone or surf the internet on your laptop during class. I don’t care if you text or pass notes. I don’t even care if you sleep through the class. But here’s the deal: I don’t want to hear noises from your devices. If you start snoring, I’m waking you up. This is key: do not keep others in this class from learning. Everyone learns differently, and just because you can multitask or focus with noise around you doesn’t mean everyone else can. As long as you stick within those parameters, we won’t have any issues. Now, I’m going to take attendance for the first week to get to know everyone. It’s not part of your grade, we’re all adults here. Once I finish that today, we’ll go over the syllabus. Everyone with me?” 

There’s a class full of mumbles yeses, and Pat shifts in his seat as subtly as he can. Damn, but there’s something about the way he gave that speech that makes Pat want to sit up and listen in a way that Sharpy has never been able to accomplish. It also somehow makes him want to roll over and show his belly.

It’s weird, but he’s weirdly into it. And he’s smart enough to know that could be a problem.


	3. CHAPTER THREE

Jonny does his best not to react when his eyes lock with Patrick’s when he’s first looking over the class. But it’s more difficult that Jonny had anticipated.

If pressed (aka gotten very drunk), Jonny would admit to a minor crush on Patrick Kane. He still loves the game of hockey, watches whenever he can, but he loves watching Kane with the puck even more, the way he controls it, the way he moves down the ice like magic. If pressed even further, he would admit to sometimes imagining what it might be like to be on that ice with him, passing the puck back and forth as they race to the net and the opposing goalie.

All through his first class speech, Jonny does his best to avoid Patrick’s gaze. As he moves to pull out the class roster, he can’t help but glance to the back of the room again, and sees him looking at him again. Jonny wrenches his gaze away, turning to move to the other side of the desk to hide his blush.

He makes it through the first half of the roster under control, glancing up after every name to match a face to it. Jonny doesn’t stumble when he gets to Pat’s name, but his heart does flip over at the soft “here” he gets in response. He glances up to keep with what he’d been doing with everyone else, but he’s careful to not make eye contact. 

After moving through the rest of the roster and marking who hadn’t shown up, Jonny moves to hand out the syllabus. Looking around to make sure everyone has a copy, he accidently looks to the back of the room, finding Patrick already looking back. They stare at each other for a moment, before Pat blushes and looks down at his desk. 

Jonny clears his throat. “Okay, ladies and gentlemen, let’s go get to it.” 

The class is over at eleven, Jonny taking pity and letting everyone leave early since it’s the first day. He stands at his desk as everyone files out of the room, most of them chatting happily about lunch and having a free hour.

A shadow moves over his papers, and Jonny looks up, swallowing when he sees Patrick standing next to him. He’s smiling nervously, and it causes Jonny’s heart to twist. There’s something about Patrick that makes Jonny want to hold him close and tell him everything will be okay. 

“Mr Kane. What can I do for you?” 

Patrick’s smile becomes more solid, and he laughs softly. “Please. Call me Pat. Or Kaner. Anything but Mr Kane.”

Jonny can’t help but smile back and he can’t help but notice Pat’s eyes drop to his mouth before jumping back up. “Alright, Pat. What can I do for you?”

“So um...well, I figured I should be up front about why I’m in this class?” Pat looks sheepish and close to shuffling his feet like a little kid. Jonny tries not to think about how adorable it is.

He cocks his head to the side. “Is that a statement or a question?”

Pat rolls his eyes, but somehow Jonny knows it’s at himself and not Jonny. “Ugh, statement, I guess. I mean, yes, you should know why I’m taking this class. Not that, you know, Canadian history isn’t thrilling on its own.”

Now it’s Jonny’s turn to roll his eyes. “Ah yes, I’m sure it’s just riveting to you, being an American and all.”

“Hey now, no need to be like that.” Pat grins to soften the words, and Jonny grins back, the banter making him happy in a way he hasn’t been in a long time, if ever. “So yeah. My teammates think I’m stupid? And bet me that I couldn’t pass a class that didn’t have anything to do with statistics or sports and here I am. Because obviously I’m actually an idiot.”

Jonny reaches out a hand, stopping once he realizes what he’s doing. “Pat. I doubt they think you’re stupid. It’s obvious you’re not, even to those of us just watching on tv. And you’re not an idiot for taking the bet. Gullible maybe, but not an idiot.” 

Jonny watches as Pat bites his lower lip, shoving down the urge to do it himself. “Thanks, Professor. We’ll see how this class goes and then we’ll see which of us is right.”

“Call me Jonny. I’m not the type to stand on ceremony.” Jonny grabs his things, and automatically put a hand on the small of Pat’s back to lead him out of the classroom. He thinks about moving his hand away, but decides that would make it even more awkward. Besides, he doesn’t miss the way Pat leans into his touch. “And we will see. But if there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s this. I don’t like to lose.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think!
> 
> Plan is to update once a week.


End file.
